The dramatic license taken on the show could have just been contained in those 6,000 pages.
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David Goyer:I dont know, 400-500.
He had 11,000 pages and about half of them were missing, are missing.
Den of Geek: So the three seasons are still a small fraction of those?
David Goyer:Sure, because we only took him roughly to the age of 32.
I think he died when he was 67.
Did he ever actually face his own inventions in real history, as he does this season?
Its hard to know.
Obviously there are a lot of missing pages.
He worked for the Ottoman sultan purportedly for a period of time.
He worked for Borgia at one point as well.
So its hard to know.
There are conflicting accounts.
So we always wouldve had a big jump forward, big leap forward.
There was a natural pause.
Its not like its an incomplete meal or anything like that.
What was the ultimate decision not to continue forward?
It was a lot of things.
I came back in during production and post-production a lot more.
The show films in Wales.
I have a lot of small children.
Its a really far commute so it took a personal toll on me.
We had reached this natural point.
Its also a very expensive show to do.
It just seemed at the end of the day like it was the right time to take a pause.
You could wait 14 years for Tom Riley to age naturally.
you could wait 14 years.
One of the nice thing about TV now is all these shows are coming back after a period.
Im already shooting a pilot next month that shoots in Brooklyn.
Now hes watching hundreds, if not thousands of people get killed.
Is Machiavelli in this season?
His apprentice was always Machiavelli.
I dont know that we explicitly stated it but we, the writers had known that.
What was cool was they were contemporaries.
Da Vinci was older than him, and later in life hey were friends.
They both worked for Borgia together.
Both of their fathers were notaries in Lorenzo Medicis court.
So they certainly wouldve known each other, even when Leonardo was back in Florence.
With this being the final season, are you able to go all out on Da Vinci vision?
Yes, we went all out in everything.
I remember Da Vinci vision was something you always wanted more of but it takes so much time.
We have some pretty elaborate sequences this season.
When people see the eye torture in episode three, what are they putting in his eyes?
Are they based in actual history also?
Nothing was written down so it allowed us to color in between the lines.
The Labyrinth werent specifically real but it was based on Minoan culture.
Again, which not a lot is known about.
Minoan, King Minos, the Minotaur, things like that.
If the Sons of Mithras are the Jedi, then the Labyrinth are the Sith.
Were you always planning to start killing off some main characters by season three?
I mean, we killed off some characters first season.
That was always part of the plan.
There are definitely some other bodies that will be dropping later on in the season.
Has it been fun to play Da Vinci and Riarios up and down relationship as friends and foes?
Theyre really up and down this season.
Riarios character in this season, I really like where he ends up at the end of the season.
Lets just say that.
Is that relationship so tenuous its hard to even talk about at this stage?
That was definitely by design.
And he does like him, maybe even love him in a weird way.
We got a lot.
There were definitely some inventions we didnt get to.
There were definitely some stories that I wouldve wanted to have dealt with.
So there are some that we didnt get to.
Well, he had a really fractious relationship with Michelangelo.
Thats a character that wouldve figured prominently had we continued.
They hated each other.
I was also interested in getting into the Spanish Inquisition and things like that.
Maybe one day well go back and do that.
Do you get to introduce any new characters before the end of the third season?
Four or five actually.
One of them, a secret character that we havent mentioned, figures very prominently in the show.
I think he shows up around episode five.
Someone that well recognize when we see them?
Somebody who may or may not have historically existed.
What is it to you?
I mean, theres certainly a continuity between the two films.
Will it be decided when we see it?
I guess its up to the fans to decide.
I would say it isMan of Steel 2but I also sayThe AvengerswasIron Man 3andAvengers 2isIron Man 5.
Its a little bit like that.
What shows are in Brooklyn and New Zealand?
Brooklyn is calledBrooklyn Animal Control.
It starts shooting next month.
Petty wrote that and Brian Kirk who did a bunch ofGame of Thronesand did the pilot forLutheris directing that.
Stephen Graham is starring in it.
Im really looking forward to that.
I cant say with the one in New Zealand.
Were you involved with the Constantine appearance onArrow?
HadConstantinecontinued, I was having some conversations with Kreisberg and Berlanti about doing a crossover.
But once it was cancelled, they said, Do you mind?
And I said, Absolutely.
But we were talking about doing it even ifConstantinecontinued at NBC.
What do you think is the longevity of dropping a whole season at once?
I find that it just gives me a longer queue and takes me longer to get to another show.
I think the jurys still out on it.
Well see in the next five years or so.
I will say this.
Theyre hooked on the third or fourth episode.
I dont know whether its going to work or not.
EvenBattlestar Galactica, I didnt come to it until after it was off the air.
I knew people loved it.
I just hadnt seen it.
I just had to be more careful about spoilers.
Are there any other historical eras youre as interested in as Da Vinci?
